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María Teresa Kumar on why young and Latino voters in Texas are crucial for midterms · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Today is National Voter Registration Day and MSNOW is joining
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  Speaker 1: forces with the Voto Latino Foundation with a flagship event
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  Speaker 1: at the University of Texas at Austin. It's a campus
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  Speaker 1: of more than 50,000 students where more than 25% identify
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  Speaker 1: as Hispanic.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, can we just stop there for a second?
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  Speaker 2: Did you guys see the post? Yes. By the idiot
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  Speaker 2: that's running for what? What's he running for?
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  Speaker 3: I think it's Congress. I'm going to look that up
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  Speaker 3: right now as we speak.
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  Speaker 2: So so they had they had a shot of the
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  Speaker 2: Texas crowd cheering and there were people of color in
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  Speaker 2: that crowd. And a guy that's running for a major
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  Speaker 2: position in Texas, I thought it was a statewide position.
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  Speaker 2: Railroad commissioner said, basically, this is what's wrong with America.
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  Speaker 3: It's a picture of the football game. Texas has a
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  Speaker 3: stunning comeback win against Ohio State. It's a photo of
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  Speaker 3: the crowd, diverse. They seem to be of Indian heritage, perhaps.
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  Speaker 3: And he basically says something in paraphrasing, like, this isn't
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  Speaker 3: the Texas I know, or something along those lines.
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  Speaker 2: And it was deeply, deeply racist. And the guy will control,
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  Speaker 2: Alex tells me, oil. It's a powerful position. It's a
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  Speaker 2: very powerful position. Karl Rove, I saw, Maura said, OK,
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  Speaker 2: this is finally done it. I will not be voting
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  Speaker 2: Republican this year straight down the ballot. I will never
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  Speaker 2: vote for this bigot.
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  Speaker 4: I'm glad he has a line. I think everybody should
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  Speaker 4: have a line. I don't think this is the vision
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  Speaker 4: for America that most voters want. But, you know, at
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  Speaker 4: the same time, this is America. This is part of
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  Speaker 4: our history. It's not, you know, all of it.
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  Speaker 3: You mean immigration?
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  Speaker 1: It is our history. This is our history.
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  Speaker 4: But also, when Donald Trump said he wants to take
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  Speaker 4: us back to a golden age, for a lot of people...
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  Speaker 4: this is what they heard. And we can't deny that.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know what the golden age was, like at
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  Speaker 2: the turn of the century, like going into the 20th century,
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  Speaker 2: when Germans... were kept out of the country, when the
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  Speaker 2: Irish were kept out of the country 50 years before that, right?
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  Speaker 4: That's right.
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  Speaker 2: There have been, you know, where did the Trumps immigrate from? Germany?
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  Speaker 4: Germany.
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  Speaker 3: Germany and Scotland, I think, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly. So, I mean.
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  Speaker 3: Here's what the guy said, just so we know. He said,
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  Speaker 3: I heard UT graduate. This is Beau French, the Republican
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  Speaker 3: running for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission. I
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  Speaker 3: heard UT graduation this year looked like this. He wrote
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  Speaker 3: in the Post, I didn't believe it. The problem is
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  Speaker 3: now obviously far worse than anyone imagines.
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  Speaker 2: And John Cornyn also announced it. But here's the crazy thing.
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  Speaker 2: And I heard somebody say this yesterday. I wish I
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  Speaker 2: could remember who it was, but I'm old. But he said,
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  Speaker 2: wait a second. So the big complaint is that immigrants
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  Speaker 2: can't assimilate in America. And here we have immigrants cheering
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  Speaker 2: like crazy.
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  Speaker 4: The Longhorns.
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  Speaker 2: They are assimilating in the most American way possible. And
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  Speaker 2: this clown down in Texas is angry because people with
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  Speaker 2: brown skin are at a Longhorn scam.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, we can't discount how much racism continues to
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  Speaker 4: be a factor in our politics. Right. And we can't
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  Speaker 4: let it define us. And it's kind of up to
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  Speaker 4: all of us to make sure that That happens.
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  Speaker 2: He wouldn't have said it if he hadn't have heard
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  Speaker 2: it while he was campaigning.
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  Speaker 4: That's right.
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  Speaker 1: Joining us now, president and co-founder of Voto Latino, MSNOW
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  Speaker 1: contributor Maria Teresa Kumar. It's great to have you on.
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  Speaker 1: Tell us, what can we expect at today's event?
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  Speaker 5: Well, Mika, this whole conversation you've been having is the
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  Speaker 5: precise reason why Voto Latino and MSNOW are teaming up
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  Speaker 5: and doing National Voter Registration Day at UT Austin. UT
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  Speaker 5: Austin is one of the largest Hispanic-serving institutions in the country.
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  Speaker 5: But the biggest secret about Texas is that when you
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  Speaker 5: look at a classroom, K through 12, 78 of the kids,
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  Speaker 5: 78 percent of the children there are kids of color,
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  Speaker 5: meaning that they are Asian, that they are— they're multicultural,
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  Speaker 5: that they are diverse. And that's the reason why Texas
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  Speaker 5: is so important. When we look at Texas as the
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  Speaker 5: laboratory of the GOP, it is where a lot of
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  Speaker 5: the laws that so many Americans take umbrage with. They're
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  Speaker 5: the ones that are restricting voter access. They're the ones
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  Speaker 5: that are restricting access to reproductive health. They're the ones
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  Speaker 5: that are right now fighting whether or not environmental issues
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  Speaker 5: actually exist. But the majority of Texans, when you poll them,
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  Speaker 5: are very much front and center saying this is not
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  Speaker 5: the America we want to live in. We actually live
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  Speaker 5: in a very multicultural state and we want to bring
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  Speaker 5: that forward. So today we are kicking off National Voter
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  Speaker 5: Registration Day, trying to register as many young people because
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  Speaker 5: in Texas, the best kept secret was that three out
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  Speaker 5: of five young people are not registered yet. But if
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  Speaker 5: they were, they would be an incredible force in changing
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  Speaker 5: the direction of that state. And we're going to be
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  Speaker 5: activating in over 13 campuses on Texas. We can't wait
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  Speaker 5: because this is a lead up to MSNOW's big debut
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  Speaker 5: on September 26th. So if you want to learn more,
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  Speaker 5: please go ahead and have your eyes on Texas, because
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  Speaker 5: one thing that MS knows what to do is how
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  Speaker 5: to inform their voters to make sure that they when
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  Speaker 5: they go to cast a ballot, they're informed and And
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  Speaker 5: at the same time, giving them agency to do the
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  Speaker 5: right thing for their communities. So we're super excited.
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  Speaker 2: For Hispanic voters. What what? What what are they feeling
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  Speaker 2: economically the most? Is it the cost of gas? Is
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  Speaker 2: it the cost of groceries? Is it rent? Is it
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  Speaker 2: more the mortgage? What are you hearing Hispanic voters are
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  Speaker 2: being the most pounded by during during this economic crisis?
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  Speaker 5: Joe, it's all of the above. One of the reasons
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  Speaker 5: that Latinos switched from left to right and voted for
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  Speaker 5: Trump was specifically because they couldn't afford rent. Thirty nine
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  Speaker 5: percent of the people that we polled just two months
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  Speaker 5: ago were skipping meals. When we're talking about the cast
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  Speaker 5: of the affordability of gas, it's through the roof. So
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  Speaker 5: one of the biggest challenges we have right now is
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  Speaker 5: trying to tell people, look, if you actually participate, you
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  Speaker 5: can help inform policy, because at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 5: whether it's a Republican or a Democrat, that's it. that's
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  Speaker 5: representing you, they will heed because they want to keep
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  Speaker 5: the power. And the Democrats right now, the reason they're
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  Speaker 5: going around the country marching on a affordability agenda is
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  Speaker 5: because they recognize that every single American is having a
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  Speaker 5: hard time making ends meet. But particularly in the Latino community,
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  Speaker 5: when you talk about not just affordability, but then you
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  Speaker 5: put on the onus of being brown in America under
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  Speaker 5: this administration. I have to tell you, I speak with
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  Speaker 5: colleagues that are in Wall Street. They have people that
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  Speaker 5: are— we have friends that are working in the field. Every
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  Speaker 5: single Latino in America right now does not feel safe.
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  Speaker 5: And so what we have found historically when it comes
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  Speaker 5: to— anti-immigrant bashing by a government, whether it's a governor or,
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  Speaker 5: in this case, a president, it is a catalyst for
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  Speaker 5: people to pay more attention. And so what we are
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  Speaker 5: seeing in a place like Texas during the midterm elections,
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  Speaker 5: when we saw during the— excuse me, during the primary elections
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  Speaker 5: that we saw back in February, was that Latino turnout
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  Speaker 5: in Texas was on par, not for congressional races, but
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  Speaker 5: for presidential races. And we're seeing that as a litmus
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  Speaker 5: test that people are not only engaged, they're rightfully angry,
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  Speaker 5: but they're also saying not only is affordability not OK,
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  Speaker 5: but the fact that my loved ones are at risk
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  Speaker 5: every single time we go out the door is an
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  Speaker 5: opportunity for us to have a message and saying it's
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  Speaker 5: time for us to get our ducks in order. It's
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  Speaker 5: our opportunity for us to register, to vote and to
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  Speaker 5: send a clear message to Washington that what we want
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  Speaker 5: them to do there is not to discriminate against who's
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  Speaker 5: American or not, but to actually do the people's business.
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  Speaker 1: The National Voter Registration Day event takes place today at
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  Speaker 1: the University of Texas at Austin, starting at 10 a.m.
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  Speaker 1: local time. President and co-founder of Voto Latino, MSNOW contributor
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  Speaker 1: Maria Teresa Kumar, thank you very much for coming on
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  Speaker 1: the show this morning.
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  Speaker 6: Hey, it's me, Rachel Maddow. If you like the story
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  Speaker 6: you just watched, you should know about a new way
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  Speaker 6: to see even more. From my show and from all
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  Speaker 6: of MSNOW, live or on tape, it's the new MSNOW membership.
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  Speaker 6: You can watch everything we do on your phone or
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  Speaker 6: your tablet or your computer. Plus, you can join conversations
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  Speaker 6: with me and the other hosts and with other folks
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  Speaker 6: who care about the news as much as you do.
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  Speaker 6: MSNOW membership. During September, you can sign up for just
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  Speaker 6: $ 40 a year, which is like just over $ 3 a month.
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  Speaker 6: Just click on the MSNOW logo right here. or go
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  Speaker 6: to ms.now slash membership.
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  Speaker 5: Hope to see you there.